The Manitoba Wildlife Federation has issued a press release calling for action and announcing a Public Forum on the topic of Chronic Wasting Disease.
“The possibility that thousands of CWD-infected animals are being consumed unknowingly by hunter families every year is cause for great concern,” said Dr. Brian Kotak, Managing Director of the Manitoba Wildlife Federation (MWF). This has been described as one of the most outrageous human susceptibility experiments in history.
The combination of threats is sobering. CWD has been shown to persist and remain infectious in the environment indefinitely. Decomposing carcasses create contaminated ‘super-sites’ and clay-based soils can dramatically increase infectivity.
The threats of CWD extend far beyond wildlife populations and human health – extending to agriculture and international trade. Plants contaminated through saliva, urine, or feces from infected animals can transmit disease and there is evidence of uptake via the root systems of agricultural crops growing in contaminated soils. The economic impact of trade barriers due to contaminate crops would be staggering. – excerpt from October 20, 2017 press release
To read the press release in its entirety:
